An examination of EHR implementation impacts on patient-flow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2017

Abstract

Introduction This study builds upon prior knowledge to integrate data from an EHR system to investigate EHR implementation on patient -flow for operations within a pediatric practice. We compare pre-implementation administrative data from a practice management system with paper-based documents, and post-implementation data from a cloud-based EHR system. Methods This study reports on visits from a clinic within a network of eleven pediatric clinics during the period of April 16, 2012 to April 15, 2014. Results 2448 independent patient visits were used in the study. 838 pre-implementation visit records were collected for the period April 16, 2012 to May 15, 2012 period, 789 visit records for the period April 16, 2013 to May 15, 2013, and 821 visit records for April 16, 2014 to May 15, 2014. Overall mean process time increased to 81.43 min immediately after implementation of the new EHR system. This was followed by a decrease (16.83 min) in time from check in to check out post-implementation. Discussion There were significant improvements observed in patient-flow relative to initial EHR adoption; such improvements resulted in gains in operational efficiency in several steps within the process. Conclusion Findings suggests the effective use of knowledge-sharing among employees in complement with EHR training cannot be overlooked. While expected gains in operational efficiency may initially be achieved within some steps of the process, sustained overall gains can only be accomplished by overcoming the barriers and challenges to organizational learning.

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